The Heights Heritage House and Garden

Prefabricated in Hamburg, Germany, the Heights was erected in 1854 and is the largest dwelling of its kind in Victoria.

Made to order in Germany then exported to Australia where it was assembled in 1855 for businessman Charles Ibbotson. The Heights is the largest prefabricated house in Victoria.

Owned by three generations of the one family it was bequeathed by the last owner to the National Trust in 1975.

Explore this unique property which still retains many of its mid-nineteenth century charms. The stables, water tower, groom’s cottage and dovecote are all in original condition.

Virtually There exhibition –

Celebrate the 60th anniversary of the National Trust in Victoria with an exhibition at The Heights!

Virtually There will take viewers on virtual tours of some National Trust properties and collections across Victoria. Using the latest virtual reality technology, come and explore much more than the site you’re visiting.

In 1883, The Heights passed to Ibbotson's daughter Minna who married sporting celebrity Louis Australia Whyte, winner of the first Australian amateur golf championship in 1894. In turn their son Louis Melville Whyte inherited The Heights. He renovated the house and garden and visitors can still see his merging of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Slate roofs meet floor to ceiling glazed windows and a formal Victorian dining room contrasts with a 1930s kitchen.

Louis Whyte enjoyed surfing and visited Hawaii in 1919 where he spent six months there learning to surf. He returned with redwood surfboards and is credited with introducing the sport into Victoria.
Whyte also enjoyed collecting cars. Visit the stables and see his 1957 Daimler parked there!

The beautifully maintained gardens stand as a tribute to Louis's wife Marnie. She was a keen gardener who transformed the garden as part of the couple's modernisation of The Heights in the 1930s.